NSA- Negative Space Aquascape

Pkunk35 · Oct 23, 2020

Wow that’s dope I love the flattened spots for coral

schuby · Oct 23, 2020

It is very interesting. I look forward to seeing your tank after a few years and hearing your thoughts about it. Are you planning on a softie tank, a mixed tank, or an SPS-dominant tank?

I'm no expert, but I believe that dried-out live rock is no longer "live". That's why your skimmer goes crazy. Have you measured the phosphate and nitrate, before and after gluing (and drying), and not seen any spikes? Not trying to be too negative but you may want to add bacteria-in-a-bottle to re-introduce a good set of nitrifying bacteria.

drukkosz · Oct 23, 2020

SteveG_inDC said:
Love your scape! I am also about to do a scape like this with live rock. Would love to know more about the process. How long did it take you? Did you do in batches? Did you break up a lot of rock to start, and if so, what tools and techniques? How did you plan the project? Did you use just glue, or come back with mortar? Sorry, I have so many questions, but it looks like you were successful so I'd like to follow in your footsteps. I have had 200+ lbs of rock of all different sizes, some really huge pieces down to rubble, sitting in a dark bin of moving saltwater for the past 9 months. Some pieces look hard to work with, really rectangular blocky table pieces. Others look more porous.

Thank you and no problem ask anything.
Its hard to tell how long it took because I was doing that in the evenings and weekends. I did each structure individually first and then put them together and build the arches.
I used all my live rock that I had in my 100g sump and then some from my display. My goal was to reuse all the rock that I already have and keep it alive so dont have to worry about cycling new tank.

I used a hammer and Chisel you can get one in Home Depot. Make sure it has hand protector trust me you might need it.

I didn’t really plan it. It was just bunch of broken rubble rock and bottle of bourbon and just went from there.

I used glue and sand method, I used a lot of glue but the joins are very strong. I can lift the entire structure with from any corner, actually the pieces that broke are the rock itself not the join. I used a little mortar but didn’t like it and honestly I don’t think it would do much.

drukkosz · Oct 23, 2020

Neuratox said:
Fantastic I love NSAs now! I just finished cycling mine and added fish to it this week. I really like how yours turned out and I'm excited to see it once you get it into the tank. What size tank is this going into by the way.

And I'll second the burn! WOW! especially if you get the accelerator on your hands with the glue! I made the mistake of wearing mechanics gloves as I was putting this together.... apparently CA and cotton DO NOT MIX!!! started burning through the glove. It took a second to register, but once my brain figured out what was happening I was furiously ripping the glove off - had a nice little burn from it.

I have 150g 5x2 , check out my build thread for more details.

And Yes I learned that super quick too, crazy how much it burns haha

drukkosz · Oct 23, 2020

schuby said:
It is very interesting. I look forward to seeing your tank after a few years and hearing your thoughts about it. Are you planning on a softie tank, a mixed tank, or an SPS-dominant tank?

I'm no expert, but I believe that dried-out live rock is no longer "live". That's why your skimmer goes crazy. Have you measured the phosphate and nitrate, before and after gluing (and drying), and not seen any spikes? Not trying to be too negative but you may want to add bacteria-in-a-bottle to re-introduce a good set of nitrifying bacteria.

Its going to be mixed reef with LPS dominant.
There was no spike with the phosphate and nitrate. the rock didn't dry completely, It would take few days for it to dry out like that. when you buy live rock online they ship it to you without water just wrapped in papers etc...

drukkosz · Oct 29, 2020

I made a little floating shelf for my Trachy:

drukkosz · Nov 2, 2020

This trachy was one of my first corals I have purchased so its over 12 years old. And it looks perfectly splendid today!

drukkosz · Nov 3, 2020

Here how it looks with few fish and corals, still more to add

Nick063 · Nov 22, 2020

This looks great! I’m thinking of doing the same for my established tank with my existing live rock...was there any due off on your live rock? How long did it take to dry? Did you use mortar on the joints at all?

markguida47 · Nov 22, 2020

Mine was a mix of dry rock and essentially dead rock which came from a tank I disassembled three years ago. Busted the rock into pieces with an air hammer with a chisel tip. Used BRS gel super glue and then mortared most joints. I then put pieces of rock with more super glue to cover the mortar. Much easier and really hides the mortar much better than the glue and sand trick. It took a week or so to bust up the rock, find the appropriate amount of creativity, glue it, mortar it, conceal it. I suppose it could go faster and it would have to using live rock.

Devaji · Dec 4, 2020

drukkosz said:
Here how it looks with few fish and corals, still more to add

man that turned out great love it.
started busting up my real reef rock this eve, to do the same. 3 bottles of 10oz glue :0 and here I was happy with my 10oz of BRS thick glue. think i should order a med from BSI to go with it?

did you use the accelerator?

drukkosz · Dec 5, 2020

I would defiantly order more glue. Better to have some left then stop in the middle of the project (done that).

I did not use the accelerator, I really didnt think you need it. I use sand-glue- more sand- more glue and then sand on top

it creates very strong bond.

Nick063 · Dec 8, 2020

Just curious as to what your bioload is...I’m considering doing the same but I’m worried about hiding areas for my pods that my mandarin eats...

drukkosz · Dec 15, 2020

Nick063 said:
Just curious as to what your bioload is...I’m considering doing the same but I’m worried about hiding areas for my pods that my mandarin eats...

I dont know how to describe my bioload. I have many fish, dont know exactly how many, but they are all small to medium size. My largest fish right now are flame angel and powder brown tang. I was thinking same thing about mandarin. But if you take one large rock and brake it in 10-15 different pieces that pods can go pretty much all over I would image it would create more room for them to feed and hide. I think one large rock is pretty much limited, they can go around it and depends on the rock- inside, but how deep? with smaller rocks it creates more holes etc so I would image that would work as good or maybe better?

drukkosz · Dec 15, 2020

Nick063 · Dec 29, 2020

Well I bit the bullet and changed my aquascape all around. I took most of my live rock used a chisel to make some different shapes and went vertical to allow more room for coral as well as fish. I love the look a lot more than the giant lump of rocks...I built 5 columns out of live rock with 2 featuring the brs base rock bottom pieces. The first few pics are the finished product...the last is how it looked before I started.

drukkosz · Dec 30, 2020

Nick063 said:
Well I bit the bullet and changed my aquascape all around. I took most of my live rock used a chisel to make some different shapes and went vertical to allow more room for coral as well as fish. I love the look a lot more than the giant lump of rocks...I built 5 columns out of live rock with 2 featuring the brs base rock bottom pieces. The first few pics are the finished product...the last is how it looked before I started.

Nice, what a difference between this and just stocking rocks! I would add an arch at some point later between first or second rock structure from the left and you can grow more sps there